About Me

When I planned to retire in 2011, my wife, Sylvia, asked me what I would do with my time, suggesting that if I want to learn the game of golf then there’s no better place than the home of golf–Scotland.

Golf! I had always stayed away from it, figuring it would keep me active in retirement. I took my first lessons in February 2013, from a golf pro near Lundin Links, Scotland. An unexpected turn of events saw us purchase a lakeside home in Michigan and I haven’t been back on the course since our move. Meanwhile, in 2018, we decided to return to Scotland and currently reside in Dunfermline, the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie.

I spent most of my adult life working overseas in various countries, which is how I met Sylvia, who is from Scotland. Sylvia accompanied me on seven postings and her support in all of my endeavors was always invaluable.

Since retiring, I traced Sylvia’s family history and confirmed something that had been passed down through the ages. She is a distant cousin of the Scottish National Poet, Robert “Rabbie” Burns. Like her cousin, Sylvia writes poetry.

Before I retired, a long-time friend (we’ve known each other since 1979) who also retired about the same time, suggested I utilize my writing skills and create a novel or two. I took his advice.

As of April 12, 2020, I’ve published four novels. I currently have three more underway. Details of my work can be found under the novels tab.

During the summer of 2016, I took the first chapter of Colombian Betrayal (long before the entire manuscript was finished), chopped it to pieces, and submitted it as “A Dangerous Occupation” to a monthly contest held by Wildsound Writing and Film Festival Review. My winning entry for August 2016 is read by a professional actor. Click here to listen.

Great to know that you’re trying to get Sylvia to self-publish her poetry. I have a feeling that she just might and maybe soon:-) I’ve been thinking about it, but I’ve got to get another job ‘fore I do anything else. We’ll see though.

It is great to know that Sylvia writes poetry! Let’s you and I encourage her all we can – and let’s see if we can get her work published. I’m confident she writes awesome poetry:-) Is there any of her poetry on this site???

hey, I read your last post on finding a publicist. But I was not able to comment there. So, I came back to this page. I was wondering why dont you chronicle your journey. By the time you publish, you will have a reference material ready for a self-help book. What do you think ?

Many thanks! If you go to the right side bar, under Categories there is a link called Morsels From the Kurdish Connection. I’m posting a few snippets from each chapter. Just added some from chapters seven and eight and will add more each day (thirty-nine chapters are currently completed).

Love you blog.
Not retired yet, can’t afford to, will like to. Never golfed. Started writing couple of years back, have not thought about publishing yet. Love to hike, will it be enough to keep me hanging around under my wife’s feet, I don’t know.
I think I will add reading blog posts, including your, under my retirement activities.

I could not replicate your sunrise over the lake. Nearest lake (man made) is 4 miles from home. Walking the dog today morning saw the sun coming up. Could not resist a photo and poem. Checkout my post for “Sunrise”.

We’re very lucky–the lake is only about 150 feet from the deck, so I don’t have to walk far for a photo. This morning, though, it was snowing so hard I couldn’t see the water, so it was good to see someone had the sun:)

Thanks I will one day, hopefully this spring. Since we moved into our current property most of my time has been absorbed with doing general maintenance/repairs as well as getting the yard under control. The previous owners used the property as a vacation home so only took care of necessities while we’re using it as our full-time home.